infrastructure

First, with more than 5,000 "honor killings" occurring around the world every year, violence against women is a widespread problem with no single solution. Then, we hear both sides of upcoming ballot initiatives that propose a new public safety tax in Johnson County, and a new levy in Kansas City, Missouri, that would fund a light rail network. Finally, the most recent installment of A Fan's Notes.

A completely new terminal at Kansas City International Airport may be out of the question (for now), but other changes are in the works. Patrick Klein, director of the Kansas City Aviation Department, speaks about the challenges and misconceptions of ongoing projects, and what travelers can look forward to in the coming years.

Kansas City's bicycle infrastructure is in the midst of an overhaul. But progress can be slow. Every year, KCUR's Central Standard does a check-in, to see how it's going. This year, it's all about turning miles of added bike lanes into continuous routes. Plus, a Kansas City cyclist's fatal collision raises concerns about safety. Why are accidents on the rise in Missouri?

In early April, dozens of cyclists gathered in a midtown Kansas City grocery store parking lot for a crosstown trek in honor of a fallen friend and fellow rider.

Thirty-two-year-old Anthony Saluto had been killed a few days earlier when a driver heading in the opposite direction swerved into his lane and hit him. Many of the cyclists, including Peter Quick, were still shaken up.

“It’s like losing a family member,” Quick said. “Bicyclists in this town are a pretty tight-knit group. So when something happens to somebody you know, it hits home pretty fast.”

You've probably never heard of him, but if it weren’t for the work of Octave Chanute, those shiny streetcars might be climbing the hills of Saint Joseph, Missouri, not Kansas City. Instead of celebrating the Royals’ World Series win, we could be cheering on the Leavenworth Lions.

But in a single master stroke, Chanute’s Hannibal Bridge, completed in 1869, allowed cattle, and all sorts of other freight, to cross back and forth from Clay and Jackson counties in record time.

You may not have heard of Octave Chanute before but, if you live in or around Kansas City, chances are you're affected by his work. Local historian Bill Nicks explains Chanute's lasting importance to aviation, and where you can still find evidence of his legacy in the metro.

It was smelly, crowded and potentially life-threatening, but riding on a steamboat was de rigeur for travelers to Kansas City in the mid-nineteenth century. For a brief and some might say "golden" era, the steamboat was also the primary agent of settlement and change. How steamboats shaped Kansas City.

Two journalists are traveling across the country in a 1949 Hudson Commodore to explore the state of America's infrastructure. On this edition of Up to Date, we spend some time with them during their stopover in Kansas City.

Guests:

Aileen Cho is Senior Editor of Transportation Projects for the Engineering News-Record and ENR.com.

Dan McNichol is an author and journalist whose work focuses on mega construction projects in the United States and around the world.

Technology is finding it's way into every part of our lives, and it may be in our roads sooner than we think. One Kansas City engineer is proposing a smart I-70 that could charge electric cars by contact, connect to navigation systems, and more.

Some bicyclists are all-purpose riders, using a mere two wheels to get to work, school, the grocery store and everywhere in between. But lots of people ride just for fun and relaxation. Central Standard invited expert panelists and listeners alike to share their favorite recreational biking trails in Kansas City and the surrounding suburbs. Below is a list of a few places where the weekend warrior can enjoy a leisurely ride.

Four years into the overhaul, officials from the Water Services Department visited the Central Standard studios to remind us why we're doing this in the first place, and to let us know how it's going so far.

Kansas City M0. Mayor Sly James said Tuesday afternoon that resurfacing roads around the city could begin as early as next month thanks to the overwhelming passage of Question 1 in the August election.

What will it take for Kansas City, Mo. to finally fix its streets and sewer system? Earlier this year, Mayor Sly James announced a bold plan for improving Kansas City's infrastructure that would involve spending $1 billion over the next 10 years.

Kansas City , Mo. – Federal and Kansas City officials have agreed on a partial fix for the city's sewer system. It will cost more than 2.5 billion dollars and take 25 years the largest infrastructure project in the city's history. A consent decree lodged in US federal court Tuesday all but sealed the deal after years of negotiations pitting the city against the EPA and Justice Department.